Top News

24 March, 2020 GENEVA/ NEW YORK/ LONDON: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus disease pandemic is “accelerating”, with more than 300,000 cases now confirmed. It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid-19 to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000, and just …

23 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Reports + Int’l Monitoring Desk NEW DELHI/ RIYADH/ DUBAI/ ISLAMABAD/ LONDON/ NEW YORK: The novel coronavirus in India rose 324 on Monday, according to Health Ministry data,  out of them 41 are foreign nationals and Maharashtra is worst hit with 63 confirmed cases. …

22 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Reports ROME/ NEW DELHI/ MELBOURNE/ KARACHI: Globally, 186 countries have been affected, more than 13,000 people have died and more than 300,00 infected by the disease as it spreads rapidly to new territories while 92,000 people have recovered. The epicentre of the …

21 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has called on the US to lift “unjust” sanctions on Iran so its western neighbor can focus on winning the battle against the coronavirus pandemic. “I would stress and insist to the international community to …

20 March, 2020 LONDON/ PARIS/ NEW YORK/ KARACHI/ SYDNEY: Death toll passes 10,000, confirmed cases near 250,000, more than 80,000 recovered UK policies to limit the spread of coronavirus would be needed for “at least most of a year” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to obey health advice …

By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report 20 March, 2020 NEW DELHI/ NIRBHAYA: Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh were sentenced to death by a trial court in 2013 over the charge of gang rape and murder of a student in Delhi in 2012. The four were hanged …

19 March, 2020 RAIPUR/ DHAKA: Tens of thousands of people gathered in Bangladesh for a mass prayer session, amid fears that it could lead to a wider outbreak. Local police Chief Tota Miah told AFP News Agency that 10,000 Muslims had gathered in Raipur town to pray “healing verses” from …

19 March, 2020 By SJA Jafri + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ KABUL/ WASHINGTON: The coronavirus pandemic adds urgency to prisoner releases agreed to by the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has said, advising they take place “as soon as possible”. “No prisoners have …

18 March, 2020 Bureau Report CANBERRA/ SYDNEY/ MELBOURNE: Australia has banned “non-essential” gatherings of more than 100 people in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced sweeping new measures on Wednesday, including discouraging travel overseas but he said schools, public transport and public squares would remain open, …

17 March, 2020 BAGHDAD/ NAJAF: In his latest bid to end Iraq’s months-long political stalemate, President Barham Salih has designated Adnan al-Zurfi as prime minister, tasking him with forming a government within a month, a decision which has been met with opposition from several factions. State TV reported the appointment …